Type-writing machine.



I. C. EGBERTS.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DBO.19, 1911.

im .In

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

PnANx o. ROBERTS, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNoR To UNDEEWOODTYPEWEITEE ooMPANY, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A oonPonA'rroN or DELAWARE.

TYPE-Wammes MACHINE.

Application filed December 19, 1911.

Specication'of Letters Patent.

To all whom, t may concern Beit known that I, FRANK C. ROBERTS, acitizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, in the county ofPhiladelphia and State of Pennsylvania, havey invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Type-Writing Machines, of which t-he following isa specification.

My invention relates to tabulator mechanism for typewriters, and isherein shown,`

tiled November 24, 1911. This relieves the operator, but he is liable tostrike type keys before the carriage has come to rest.

vMy invention is designed to overcome this liability. I provide meansfor locking the type keys so that, after a tabulator key'is depressed tovset'the carriage traveling, it becomes impossible for the operator tode'- press a type key. The lock is automatically released when thecarriage comes torest.

The type key lock specifically described herein is substantially thatdisclosed in U. S. patent to Wagner No. 559,345, dated April 28, 1896,although other forms of key-locking mechanism amd tabulating mechanismmay be employed.

In the accompanylng drawings, Figure 1' vis a sectional side view of an.Underwood nections between the tabulator key lever and.

the type key lock.

Keys 1 of the-typewriter depress levers 2 to move bell cranks 3 to swingtype bars 4 upwardly and rearwardly, to cause types 5 to strike againsta platen 6 on a carriage 7. The carriage isdrawny forward inletterspacing direction by means of a spring 8, and

its letter feed is controlled by a universal bar 9 operating dogs 10,which ywork in escapement wheel 11. On the axle of said escapement wheelis a pinion 12 working in a rack bar 13 of the carriage,t and thuscontrolling its feed. A decimal tabulator key 14 mounted on a lever 15raises its decimal plunger 16 to intercept a stop 17 on a rack bar 18 ofthe carriage, and thus arrests the carriage at any desired point. Oneach of said plungers 16 is a shoulder 19 arranged to strike against auniversal bar 20, which swings an arm 21, to depress a link 22, and thusswings arm 23 around pivot 24.- to raise rack 13 out of the pinion 12 bymeans of idle wheel 25 on" said arm 23.

The rack 13 is mounted on short arms 26 pivoted at 27 on the carriage,thus enabling itto easily rise. of which ten are shown, each carry anarm 28 on which is a pivot 29 carying a swinging latch 30, which isguided in guides 31,32 and 33 fixedv to the tabulator stop frame. Thelower end of each of these latches is arranged to work in a slot 34 inthe bottom guide 32, and the top of each slot is widened at 35, so thatthe latch may swing outwardly when it reaches that point, and rest onthe shelf'formed by such widening. A spring 36 presses each latch 30 toinsure that it shall swing out- 'to engage the shelf. When so swun out,the last stop and its latch present t 'e appearance shown in Fig. 2 andat 16a and 30a in Fig. 4. If the stop 16, shown in Fig. 1, were raised,its latch 30 would be swung out, as shown in Fig/4, the carriagereleased, and the carriage would travel till the projection 37 of thestop 17 struck latch 30a. ThisV would swing the latch around its pivotyagainst the pressure of spring 36, and thus its lower end would be overthe -deep part of thisslot, into which it would then fall as the stop isdrag-ged down by spring 46. The result of this structure is thatwhenever a denominational stop is raised, it is held in position untilits latch is struck by the carriage stop. When so struck, it isimmediately free, and the stop plunger can return and so permit the rackon the carriage lto rengage with the escapement. Thus it would bepossible for the tabulator key to be released land fora type key to bestruck, before the carriage The plungers 16,

has reached the limit of its travel, as determined by a stop thusoperated. To: prevent a key from being vso Struck, I have. *arrangedbeneath a tabulator key lever, universal bar 38, which operates a lockfor'xype keys 1. This'lock, as shown, comprises an arm 39 carrying'saiduniversal bar 38, which is normally swung toward the front of themachine by a springf40, and carries a second arm 41, 4which is'arrangedto strike a freely swinging arm 42, and by the depression of lever 15,the said arm 42 swings a universal bar 43 mounted on it,v,under hooks 44of the type levers 2,*a'nd thus holds them against depression. A spring45 normally swings arm 42 rearwardly, and thus frees the type key leversfrom said lock, so that the raising of lever 15 by release of the fingerafter it hasbeen freed from its latch, will permit the operation of t-hetype keys; but since lever 15 moves with stop 16, as has been pointedout above, the lever 15A will remain depressed until the carriagereaches the limits of its travel, so the type keys. are locked till thattime. When, therefore, my invention is appliedl to a typewriter, theoperator need waste no Vtime observing whether the carriage has reachedthe limit of its travel after a tabulator key'is operated, for thecomplete operation of the stops is certain and the premature operationof a type key is impossible.

Variations may be' resorted to within the scope of the invention, andportions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with` a plurality `of tabulator keys controllingdenominational stops, of latches for said stops, a universal bar'operated by saidkeys, a spring returning said universal bar, a rock'arm carrying said bar, and a type key lock operated bv said universalbar. j l 'L 2. The combination withla plurality of tabulator keyscontrolling denominational stops, ot latches for saidV stops,a universalbar operated by said keys, a rock arm carrying said bar and rocking asecond arm, a swinging. arm struck by said second arm, carrying a.universalbar, and a hook on each type bar arranged to be engaged by'meegaat said second universal bar to lock said type levers. v

3. The combination with a tabulator key lever and a latch, of -abarmoved by said vkey lever, a pivoted arm carrying said bar,

a spring holding said bar against said lever, a .second arm fast tolsaid first arm, and a type lever lock operated by said second arm.

4. A typewriter comprising a type key lock, a tabulator mechanism,latches for said mechanism, and means for operating said lock from thetabulator keys, said means being normally disconnected, from said lock.

5. `A typewriter comprising a type key lock, a tabulato-r mechanism,latches for said mechanism, key levers controlling said mechanism, anda. lever pivoted on the frame moved by said levers to operate said lock.

6. The combination with a plurality of tabulator keys controllingdenominational stops, of latches for said stops, a universal baroperated by the levers of said tabulator keys, type key levers, and atype key lock engaging directly on said type key levers operated by saiduniversal bar.

l7. The combination with a plurality oftabulator keys controllingdenominational stops, of latches for said stops, 4a universal baroperated by the levers of said keys, a rock arm carrying said bar, typekey levers,

yand a type key lock engaging directly on said type key levers operatedby said universal bar. I

8. Inga typewriting machine, the combination with keys, of a bar, armson which said bar swings, upward extensions of said arms, rockarmsrwhich they swing, and a locking bar on said rock arms.

9. In a typewriting machine, the combination with character keys, oftabulator keys, a bar for locking said character keys, a universal baroperated by said tabulator keys, and rock arms on said universal barcomprising extensions to directly contact with said locking bar to locksaid character keys.

FRANK C. ROBERTS. Witnesses: l

JOHN A. MAKCLEOD, R. A. BLACK.

